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Zambia: Arez Calls for Lead Screening Extension
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The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
24 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008
THE Advocacy for the Restoration of Environment in Zambia (AREZ) has appealed to the ministry of Health to extend lead pollution screening in hospitals compulsory to all as the problem literally affects all age groups.
AREZ programmes officer, Mwenya Mukula, said in Kabwe that currently the lead-screening programme in hospitals was only for children aged seven and below.
There was need for the screening to be extended to adults too.
Ms Mukula said lead poisoning had long-term effects that could affect adults as well hence the need to screen everyone.
Adults too should be given a chance to be screened so that they could know their lead poison status and seek treatment.
AREZ has stepped up awareness campaigns regarding the lead poisoning problem and on Friday it organised an orientation workshop for councillors to equip them with knowledge on lead matters.
Ms Mukula was happy to note that people in Kabwe were getting the message on lead pollution as the organisation was receiving overwhelming response from the community.
She said more people in Kabwe were interested in finding out information on lead pollution and how they can protect themselves and their families from contamination.
Ms Mukula noted that despite the many positive strides against lead pollution, her organisation was still facing a huge challenge to make people green their surroundings.
She said as important as the campaign was in mitigating the effects of pollution, most residents were not willing to plant grass around their premises for fear of water charges.
Most residents were complaining that they could not afford to green their surroundings for fear of huge water bills.
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The water charges were hindering the greening campaign.
Ms Mukula appealed to women especially expectant mothers to avoid eating soil as it posed a health hazard to their unborn babies.
AREZ's view was that soils were most contaminated meaning that mothers were not only risking their health but the health of their unborn baby too.
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| Copyright © 2008 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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